History Trivia / FaceOff

* DawsonCasting:
** Played straight with 43 year old Creator/JohnTravolta playing 32 year old Castor Troy.
** Averted with Jamie Archer: she is in her junior or senior year of high school, and at the time of filming, Dominique Swain was sixteen.

* ExecutiveMeddling: {{Defied|Trope}}. Creator/JohnWoo only agreed to direct the film under the condition that he would have greater creative control than he had been allowed in his prior Hollywood films ''Film/HardTarget'' and ''Film/BrokenArrow1996'', both of which had been accused of suffering this. Nevertheless, the studio still argued with Woo on multiple cases, such as demanding he take the slash out of the title and wanting a younger actress to play Eve Archer, but Woo stood his ground.

** Creator/NicolasCage is a big fan of Creator/ChowYunFat. Creator/JohnWoo originally asked Cage to decide on the make-up for the beginning of the film. Cage decided to don a moustache, similar to the famous assassination scene in ''Film/TheKiller''.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In some episodes, where a contestant has to choose a design, there are usually more options than their are contestants, so some design options are never chosen. A few examples include Sleeping Beauty and Outer Space options for Season 1's "Twisted Tales" finale, the Artemis and Demeter option from Season 7's "Off with Their Heads", and the "Taj Trashed By Pterodactyl" option from Season 7's "Creature Carnage".
* TheWikiRule: [[http://syfyfaceoff.wikia.com/wiki/Syfy%27s_Face_Off_Wiki The Face/Off Wiki]].

* PropRecycling: The magnetic boots worn by the prisoners in Erewhon are the same boots the Goombas used in ''Film/SuperMarioBros''

** Some looked high and low for a Filipino Kriss-styled [[ButterflyKnife Balisong]] like the one Castor gives to Jamie.

** Creator/ JohnnyDepp wanted to play Sean Archer, but passed on the role after reading the script.

*** In the script, it's revealed in Archer's "extract information about the bomb" conversation from Pollux that Castor Troy received a tattoo of the Sphinx on his tenth birthday. It also turns out that that was the day his mother died by overdosing. Though Castor had attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he failed. Afterwards, he made a promise to protect Pollux. Also, Archer comes close to giving himself away by scratching his wedding band. Pollux is also clearly uneasy because Archer smiles like himself, not like Castor, after getting the information.

[[AC:[[Film/FaceOff Film]]]]

* ActingForTwo: Nicolas Cage and John Travolta start off playing Castor Troy and Sean Archer respectively. Then the surgeries cause them to switch so that Cage is playing Archer and Travolta is playing Castor.

* AllStarCast: The series judges - Glenn, Ve (Lois Burwell for most of Season 7), and Patrick (Neville for Season 3+). You've more than likely seen at least one of the movies each one was involved in. Season 4 also (re)introduces Michael Westmore as the contestant's pro-mentor. And of course, you have the various guest judges who are all well known movie and/or TV figures.

* ThrowItIn: Creator/GinaGershon and Nick Cassavetes came up with the brother/sister kiss. Gershon said, "There's something so warped about them anyway... I think they just really love each other."

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In some episodes, where a contestant has to choose a design, there are usually more options than their are contestants, so some design options are never chosen. A few examples include Sleeping Beauty and Outer Space option for Season 1's "Twisted Tales" finale, the Artemis and Demeter option from Season 7's "Off with Their Heads", and the "Taj Trashed By Pterodactyl" option from Season 7's "Creature Carnage".

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In some episodes, where a contestant has to choose a design, there are usually more options than their are contestants, so some design options are never shown. A few examples include Sleeping Beauty and Outer Space for Season 1's "Twisted Tales" finale, Artemis and Demeter from Season 7's "Off with Their Heads", and the "Taj Trashed By Pterodactyl" option from Season 7's "Creature Carnage".

* TheDanza: Probably unintentional but in the episode "Teacher's Pets" model Meg Albiertus plays a {{OurGoblinsAreDifferent/character}} known as "Meg Oblin"

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[spoiler:The return of Nicole in Season 3 also resulted in her win by ''Series/AmericanIdol'' vote, though by all accounts, Laura or Derek should have won the season if her return didn't happen. Laura had another chance to compete in Season 5, which she won without question. Kinda makes you wonder who would have won Season 5 if Season 3 hadn't happened the way it did, and it's especially obvious that the producers realized their mistake in letting Season 3 be decided that way, because neither the option of giving an eliminated contestant the chance to return nor the ''Idol''-style finisher ever happened on ''Face Off'' again.]]
** ''Any'' of the design options that aren't selected by the contestants, e.g. the "Taj Trashed By Pterodactyl" option from Season 7's "Creature Carnage".

* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: Creator/JohnWoo let Nick Cassavetes write a lot of his own lines for the movie.

** Gershon also decided that Sasha should [[GroinAttack kick a man in the groin]]. "I thought that just encapsulated her whole personality, the whole 'killer' mom."

* MilestoneCelebration: The 100th episode occurred in Season 9, and featured seven real-life couples made-up by the contestant to look like zombies. The couples were then married on the reveal stage by Mackenzie.

* RomanceOnTheSet: Former judge and frequent guest star Patrick Tatopoulos and host McKenzie Westmore were married in 2015 after dating since season one.

* HilariousInHindsight: This won't be the only time Creator/GinaGershon will play a bad girl [[DatingCatwoman who gets into a relationship with the hero]] [[WesternAnimation/TheBatman without knowing his true identity]].

* ActorAllusion:
** Creator/NicolasCage steals [[Film/TheRock another beige Volvo]] [[Film/ConAir stationwagon]].
** Creator/JohnTravolta [[Film/PulpFiction gives his wife a foot massage]], and [[Film/{{Michael}} his son Michael's grave is shaped like an angel]].
* BillingDisplacement: Averted with the fact that John Travolta and Nicolas Cage are billed first in the credits, as the leads. However, they credit Travolta as only playing Archer and Cage as only playing Castor, the roles they are in at the beginning of the movie, and miss the fact that they actually spend more screentime playing the ''other'' character. Travolta should actually be credited as "Sean Archer[=/=]Castor Troy" and Cage as "Castor Troy[=/=]Sean Archer".

** Played straight with 43 year old John Travolta playing 32 year old Castor Troy.

* DuelingStarsMovie: Nicolas Cage vs. John Travolta.
* ExecutiveMeddling: {{Defied|Trope}}. John Woo only agreed to direct the film under the condition that he would have greater creative control than he had been allowed in his prior Hollywood films ''Film/HardTarget'' and ''Film/BrokenArrow1996'', both of which had been accused of suffering this. Nevertheless, the studio still argued with Woo on multiple cases, such as demanding he take the slash out of the title and wanting a younger actress to play Eve Archer, but Woo stood his ground.
* PlayingWithCharacterType: For both Nicolas Cage and John Travolta.

** The original script had the same high concept, only it was a sci-fi action movie set in the future. The setting was changed to the present day once John Woo signed on, so that the plot could also explore how Archer's and Castor's dislike for each other affects those around them, especially after they get each other's face.
** Also before John Travolta and Nicolas Cage got the lead roles, other Archer[=/=]Castor pairs were considered, such as Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger / Creator/SylvesterStallone and Creator/HarrisonFord / Creator/MichaelDouglas.

** ''Any'' of the design options that aren't selected by the contestants, e.g. the "Taj Trashed By Pterodactyl" option from Season 7's "Creature Carnage".

* CastingGag: Dietrich's sister name is Sasha. His actor Nick Cassavetes also has a daughter named Sasha.

* TheDanza: Probably unintentional but in the episode "Teacher's Pets" model Meg Albiertus plays a OurGoblinsAreDifferent/character known as "Meg Oblin"